Private Dressage Lesson (Chase)

[chase]

Chase smiled as he watched her correct the natural inkling she had to do things the way she had been previously schooled, it was neat to see her learn and remember so quickly. Most of the time it wasn’t that people didn’t understand or failed to listen it as re-schooling the brain, changing your reaction and making things a proper process that you went through every time you did a transition. Chase had learned the hard way too, there were lots of methods to riding and dressage as well. The same process didn’t work for ever rider and not every pro would agree about how you should do things. The general outcome and desired movement or quality is what everyone was after, but as a rule of thumb there was more than one way to achieve it. Chase found his methods worked in a general rule, he did have to modify the approach for different horses and riders, Hutch and Henri seemed to be doing well. He was treating them as he would a rider with some experience in the area, he wasn’t watering down his methods or anything and things seemed to be going well.

Chase nodded to the pair whom had transitioned to the walk, it was clean and good forward. He stayed silent, observing and allowing Henri to go through the motions and feel things out. Silence was good, the concentration on his face should have been a dead give-away, he liked to use silence but couldn’t help himself sometimes. He refused to nag but wasn’t going to let things totally fall apart and keep his mouth shut. As a trainer and coach he was pretty certain it was in his job description to instruct and prevent things from falling apart, every now and then he had to test the rider and let them figure it out but for the most part he liked to guide and make simple corrections. Then as the rider adjusted there was less and less corrections and more silence. The walk was good, transition was clean and the horse was working and evidently focused on the rider and his job – it was nice to see. The harmony between the pair was visible as they transitioned to trot, she fixed her posting and before Chase could comment of the forward he could see she was in the process of fixing it.

“Good, I liked your transitions. For future references, silence on my part is good.”

He watched the pair for a few moments, nodding and smiling before he spoke once more.

“I like the trot, remember the feel of the good forward – no racing. And when you are ready, canter.”

ooc: sorry, school and muse = death.
outfit[

[Henrietta Charleston]

Dressage was no doubt a difficult discipline to master, though then again, horse back riding as a whole was a difficult thing to master as well. It really was quite too vast to master everything about it, though one may try. It took lifetimes to perfect even one discipline as many and the majority of those who went to the academy dedicated their life to doing. Henri was certainly determined to better her riding and have equestrianism in her future. There was no doubt about that, though she was unclear on what she actually wanted to do. Something that earned money for sure, or her father would have an absolute fit.

Looking at Chase and his ease with teaching, Henri soon ruled out becoming an instructor. She wasn’t that great at teaching and preferred the feeling of being the student instead of the teacher. Learning was just too much fun in the sport. Of course, when you learnt the good way. From the man’s approving nods and silent words, she figured she had been doing pretty well. Her thought was confirmed as the man spoke up, earning a grin from the brunette’s lips. She liked this type of silence, though in other situation she might have found it a bit too scary to deal with.

Silence could mean a number of things. Her mother for one, liked to use it show her she was growing upset. Her father blocked her out on a number of occasions using silence, but Chase used silence in a good way. It was a different experience for the girl, from moving to a boarding school to simply the different types of people around. She was starting to really enjoy it however. Changes, as she was slowly beginning to realize, could be a good thing too.

Giving the man her slight nod as he instructed her to canter, Henri slid her outside leg back and asked the horse to canter. Having been on his slightly worse side, Hutch took a few fast trot steps before going off and the girl sat automatically into her near half seat. Being a jumper, the warmblood was a bit picky about the deep dressage. Pushing him out as she cantered, the girl huffed as her leg was getting a workout. Hutch finally complied properly, but slowed his gait a bit as he flexed around her inside leg and cantered around.

OOC: Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! - holidays are fun but nearly fatal to muse. Sorry this post is like all over the place, I honestly don't even know xD